We're just a couple of months away from the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and The Cosmic Circus is now reporting that the sequel will conduct reshoots from September 7 through September 14 in Atlanta, Georgia.
This is a little surprising when the movie is so close to arriving in theaters, though it's not unprecedented for Marvel Studios to squeeze in some last-minute additional photography. It has been a long road for the Black Panther sequel, though, and production actually began last June.
Since then, star Letitia Wright has suffered an on-set injury that ended up halting work on the movie from November 2021 until this past January. The actress has also generated a lot of controversy due to her anti-vax opinions, prompting fans to wonder whether plans for Shuri to take over from the late Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa as the new Black Panther have been scrapped.
During a recent appearance on The Town with Matt Belloni podcast, Deadline's Justin Knoll revealed that once Wright started vocalising her thoughts on set, "you didn't hear her name for [roles]." He'd add that making her feelings public in such a manner is "when the studio execs get wary about you."
Belloni, who previously served as an editor for The Hollywood Reporter, also chimed in to say that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever's production was "absolutely disrupted by some of the stuff [Letitia Wright did]." He also confirmed that Wright's vaccination status proved to be "a pain" for Marvel Studios when difficulties arose regarding her travelling into the U.S. from the UK.
Honestly, we wouldn't be at all surprised if these rumoured reshoots will be used to end the movie with a new Black Panther, even if Shuri holds the mantle for a good chunk of her screentime. We'll see, but there are going to be a lot of eyes on this movie later this year following all this controversy.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever arrives in theaters on November 11.